Genesis 32

Background:
Jacob is returning to the land God gave his father and grandfather. God had directed him to return after some 20 years with Laban. The closer Jacob gets to home the more worried he becomes, fearing Esau's reaction Jacob cries out to God. Jacob sends a message to his brother, and finds Esau is coming with 400 men to meet Jacob.

1. Jacob divides his company (Gen 32:7)
2. Jacob realizes and confesses his own state
1. Jacob reminds God of His promise to deal well with him
2. Jacob confesses to God that he is not worthy of God's mercy
3. Jacob pleads for God's mercy
1. Jacob worries more for the lives of his wives and children
4. Jacob sends extravagant gifts to Esau
3. Jacob finds alone time with God
1. Jacob seeks the Lord in fervent prayer
2. An angel comes to wrestle with Jacob
1. The angel was Jesus
2. Jesus was to both strengthen and test Jacob's faith
3. God wants to see how bad we want it
4. Jacob was made lame as a display of God's power but he never gave up even in the face of such a display
5. God knew Jacob had important work to do at daybreak, but Jacob would not relent
6. Jacob was willing to give up his own body for the blessing of God
4. Jacob becomes Israel
1. God honors Jacob by changing his name from Jacob (deceiver) to Israel (Prince of God)
2. God leaves Jacob's injury to remind him of God's power and his weakness

Application:
To come to God we must recognize who and what we are. We are not worthy of God's mercy, but He has freely given it anyway. We are sinners, and we need to humble ourselves before God. When we come to God in prayer, we must be willing to give up everything to get a blessing from God. We must be willing to sacrifice everything for Him. God may not require a sacrifice of us, but we should be willing to give it just the same. We must persist in our prayers until we see them answered, and we must depend on God to both challenge and strengthen our faith.

Genesis 27 - 29 Blessings and Consequences

1. Isaac completes the blessing of Jacob
1. Rebekah convinces Isaac to send Jacob away to get a wife
2. Isaac now willingly blesses Jacob with the blessing of Abraham
3. Jacob is in for a difficult time because of his deception
2. Esau tries to please
1. Esau realizes his parents can't stand his Cannanite wives
2. Esau marries daughters of Ishmael
3. Jacob comes into contact with God
1. God gives Jacob a vision of the spirit realm
1. This is a vision of what is really going on
2. Jacob is changed by his encounter with God
2. Jacob commits to God
4. Jacob meets Rachael
1. Jacob immediately falls in love with Rachael
1. Rachael is of Rebekah's family
2. Jacob commits to Laban 7 years of service for Rachael
5. Laban's deception
1. Jacob marries Rachael(or so he thinks)
2. Laban tricked Jacob and substituted Leah
3. Jacob waits only a week and then marries Rachael
   
1. Jacob commits another 7 years of service for Rachael
6. Leah's Pain
1. Leah loves Jacob, and tries to please him
2. Jacob loves Rachael more than Leah
3. Leah has 4 sons for Jacob, but Rachael is barren
   

Genesis 23 - 25 Death, Marriage, and Birth

1. Main Theme

   1. Even the greatest men and women are called home to the Lord

   2. Through our children we have “eternal life” on earth

   3. God has a plan for every part of our lives, including our spouse, and children

2. Sarah Dies

   1. Sarah lived to be 127

   2. Abraham purchases a burial cave from the Hittites

   3. Again Abraham does not accept the generosity of the ungodly

      1. Abraham pays full price to Ephron, despite Ephrons offer to give the land to Abraham

      2. Abraham knew better than to be in debt

3. Isaac gets a bride

   1. Abraham commisioned his chief steward to find Isaac a wife from his own people

      1. Eliezer of Damascus was a very powerful man in his own right

      2. Abraham did not want for Isaac to leave the land God had sworn to him

      3. Eliezer asks God to give him a sign, and immediately it is given

   2. Rebekah is Abraham's great niece

      1. Rebekah has a servants heart

      2. Rebekah was pure

      3. Rebekah's family knew the LORD

      4. Rebekah chose her husband over her family

      5. Rebekah was a comfort to Isaac

4. Abraham takes another wife

   1. Abraham has many other children

   2. Abraham gave all his inheritance to Isaac

   3. Abraham sent the other children away

5. Rebekah has twins

   1. Esau is firstborn

      1. Esau means hairy

   2. Jacob is born second

      1. Jacob means “he decieves”

   3. Esau despises his birthright

      1. Jacob trades Esau a bowl of stew for his birthright

Genesis 17 - 19 Influence: God's Ours, and The World's

1. Main Topics

   1. Who or what influence our thoughts and actions?

   2. Abraham was influenced by God

   3. Lot was influenced by The world

   4. Abraham was able to influence others, even God

   5. Lot lost his influence over even his own family

2. Abraham trusted God, and allowed his life to be changed by God

   1. Abraham felt it was impossible for him to have a son by Sarah (Gen 17:17)

   2. Abraham believed God's promise (Gen 17:23-27)

   3. Abraham commited himself to the terms of the covenant (Gen 17:23-27)

3. Sarah trusted her own knowledge over God's plan

   1. Sarah laughed when God promised a son (Gen 18:12)

   2. Sarah was ashamed of her doubt (Gen 18:15)

4. Abraham Intercedes for Sodom (and Lot)

   1. God knew Abraham's faithfulness, and his future influence (Gen 18:17)

   2. God told Abraham what He was about to do (Gen 18:20)

   3. Abraham intercedes, boldly asking God to be merciful (Gen 18:22-32)

      1. Really Abraham was asking for Lot to be saved

   4. God answers Abrahams prayer

      1. Even though Abraham doesn't specifically ask about Lot, God still knows his heart, and makes a way for Lot to be saved, even though he could not find even 10 righteous men in the city

5. Lot doesn't realize he has lost his influence

   1. God sends angels to Sodom to retrieve Lot and his family, then destroy the city (Gen 19:1)

   2. Lot asks the angels to stay in his home, thinking he could offer them protection (Gen 19:3)

   3. The men of Sodom sought to rape the angels (Gen 19:5)

      1. Hospitality was very important in the time of Lot and still is today in the Middle East

      2. To protect his guests Lot offered his virgin daughters to the mob, even then the men of the city tried to break the door down (Gen 19:8)

         1. Lot had lost his influence, no one had even the slightest bit of respect for Lot

         2. Lot never called out to God to come to his aid, he knew he had lost his influence with God

      3. Finally the angels blinded the mob, as their mission was to protect Lot (Gen 19:10)

   4. The angels told Lot to gather his family and leave the city as they were about to destroy it (Gen 19:13)

      1. Lot went to his family and told them to leave, they thought he was joking, he had even lost his influence with his own family (Gen 19:14)

      2. The angels tell Lot to run to the mountains (Gen 19:17)

         1. Lot uses Abrahams influence to make his escape easier (Gen 19:18)

         2. Lot's own wife is not influenced by him, and is turned to a pillar of salt (Gen 19:26)

   5. Lot's own daughters have no respect for him, they sleep with their drunken father and two of Israel's greates enemies are born (Gen 19:30-36)

Genesis 12 - 14 Abram Becoming Abraham

1. Why we study Abraham

   1. To understand the importance of faith to righteousness.

   2. To understand the history of the people groups that make up the middle east.

   3. To understand God's desire for a relationship with us.

2. Abram misses instructions

   1. Abram was told to leave his fathers house, and yet he still took Lot with him.

   2. As Abram and Lot aquired larger flocks, their servants began to argue and fight over land

   3. Abram divided the land with Lot. Lot chose to stay near Sodom.

   4. Abram put together a private army from the servants born in his house.

   5. Much later, Lot becomes the father of the Moabites, one of Israel's biggest enemies.

3. Abram worships God

   1. God appears to Abram

   2. Abram builds an altar to the Lord, and communes with Him. Calls the place Bethel

4. Abram loses faith

   1. Soon after God appeared to Abram, there was a famine in the land

   2. Abram weathered the famine in Egypt, but was afraid for His life

   3. Abram lied, and made his wife and all of their servants to lie

   4. Pharoh was plagued for Sarai, and confronted Abram.

   5. Pharoh sent Abram out of Egypt

5. God reaffirms His promise to Abram

   1. God wants to comfort Abram after the split from his nephew

   2. God wanted to strengthen Abram's faith, by having him walk all the land of his decendants.

6. Who is Melchizedek

   1. Abram tithes to Him

   2. His name means King of Righteousness

   3. His is the King of Salem(King of Peace)

   4. He is Priest forever